Triumph announces new Scrambler 1200

Yes, yes, ok, we’ve all collectively known about Triumph’s Scrambler 1200 for a while having seen the spy-shots posted on various outlets over what feels like the last 6 months or more. But today, the boys (and girls) in Hinkley sent out invites to the press launch, and we’ve gladly accepted the opportunity to test the new whip in southern Portugal in December.

Here at Superbike we’ve always loved a good Triumph Scrambler, as John will attest to in our review of Triumph’s Street Scrambler. Triumph say that its upcoming Scrambler 1200 is “set to create a riding revolution” and that it will “set a new benchmark for what makes a scrambler great”. Sounds good to us, because the benchmark, which is arguably currently set by Ducati’s Scrambler 1100, is already pretty high with its wide and flat torque curve, electronic toys, quality finish and bad-ass L-twin soundtrack. It’ll therefore be interesting to see what the British marque have got in store above and beyond what we’ve already seen in the spy shots.

Our guess would be along the lines of 75 BHP and 78 lb-ft of torque in the engine department, which is a significant amount more than the current Street Scrambler’s 55 BHP and 59 lb-ft, and exactly the same output as the Bonneville Bobber. Aside from that, expect similar wizz-bang toys to Ducati’s big Scrambler, namely: nan IMU for lean-angle sensitive ABS and TC, and maybe even self cancelling indicators. But, what we’re really expecting is some serious off-road ability. The spy shots show a 21″ front wheel, properly big forks and shocks, bark-busters and a dirty great bash plate bolted to the frame. Which begs the question… will Triumph have made it good off-road at the expense of on-road performance?

Word on the street is it’ll cost 12 large ones. We’ll find out more on October 24th when Triumph are hosting what will very likely be some retro-cool SteveMcQueen-esque launch party in East London.